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PHIL 107A:The Greeks on Irrationality (PHIL 207A)

In this course, we shall examine the views of some central Greek philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, and the Stoics) on the irrational and non-rational aspects of human life. What makes something irrational and what roles (negative and perhaps positive as well) does the irrational play in our lives? We shall examine their views on anger, fear, madness, love, pleasure and pain, sexual desire and so on. We shall also consider more briefly some depictions of these psychic items in ancient Greek literature.

Last offered: Autumn 2012
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

PHIL 108:Aristotle's Metaphysics Book Alpha (PHIL 208)

An introduction both to Aristotle's own metaphysics and to his treatment of his predecessors on causality, included the early Ionian cosmologists, atomism, Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Plato. Prerequisite: one course in ancient Greek philosophy.

Plato's and Aristotle's views on the nature of art and rhetoric and their connections with the emotions, reason and the good life. Readings include Plato's Gorgias, Ion and parts of the Republic and the Laws and Aristotle's Poetics and Rhetoric.

The first Greek philosophers are known to us only through fragments of their original works, generally few in number and transmitted by later authors, as well as through a set of testimonies covering a thousand years and more. Thus it is crucial, in order to understand archaic thought, to get a sense of how they were read by those to whom we owe their transmission. What was their aim, their method, their presuppositions or prejudices?nn The course will employ this perspective to examine authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Diogenes Laertius, Simplicius ¿ among others. We shall also reflect, on the basis of the paradigmatic case of the Presocratics, on some of the more general problems raised by literary and philosophical approaches to the notion of reception.

Last offered: Spring 2014
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

PHIL 110:Plato's Republic (PHIL 210)

The Republic is one most famous and influential texts in the history of Western philosophy. We shall read in its entirety closely (along with some other related Platonic texts) focusing on its epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of art, and political philosophy.

PHIL 118:British Empiricism, 1660s-1730s

Focus is on the big three British Empiricists and their developments of thought based on the foundational role that they give to sensory perception or experience as the source of knowledge. Topics may include the theory of ideas, idealism, personal identity, human agency, moral motivation, causation, and induction. Readings predominantly from Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.